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INFLUENCES ON PRINCIPALS’ LEADERSHIP PRACTICE
by
Gloria Duncan
________________________________________________________________________
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 2011
Copyright 2011 Gloria Duncan

Preparing principals to be effective instructional leaders is a critical lever for promoting powerful teaching and learning. Unprepared principals do not improve schools. The purpose of this research study was to investigate the specific elements and attributes of a leadership capacity building and support program that influence school principals’ practice in ways that positively impact teacher professional practice and improve student learning outcomes. The identified principals of this study participated in the Focus on Results program. This comprehensive, research and standards-based executive leadership program included both professional development as well as the support of a principal coach. The study addressed these primary research questions: 1) How does a district’s leadership capacity building and support system prepare principals for the unique challenges of high needs schools? 2) How does the Focus on Results program influence the principal’s ability to create and sustain organizational structures that promote effective teacher professional practice? 3) How does leadership practice influence teacher professional practice?; The study examined the practice of two new high school principals who were participating in the Focus on Results program. Each case study focused on how FOR prepared the principal to create organizational structures and practices that promoted effective professional teacher practice that ultimately improved high needs student outcomes. The study examined the leadership practices demonstrated by each of the principals to determine (a) the relationship between principal participation in the FOR program and their leadership practice, and (b) if the practice of the two principals varied, then what accounted for that variance. Qualitative data were collected in a pre-intervention and post-intervention design as well as the collection of quantitative data after the intervention to determine the leader’s change in practice and how these changes had been shaped or reshaped by participation and experiences on the FOR program over time.; In this study, multiple sources of data were collected for analysis in this study. For both case studies the following sources were used to gather descriptive data from each school: pre/post interviews, with each principal and core content teachers; pre/post observations of the principal interacting with teachers and classroom observations of teachers interacting with their students and with other teachers; and a collection of documents and artifacts relevant to the study were collected for analysis. In addition, post-intervention data were collected from the administration of the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education (VAL-ED) survey to each principal and some of their teachers.; When comparing the two case study schools, findings from the research revealed differences in each principal’s leadership practice and the level of support from a principal coach. The differences in leadership practices between the two case study principals existed mostly because of the dynamics of the schools. The level of coaching support was determined by the district; however the experiences of the principals with their coaches suggested that the relationships were helpful to them. Both case studies produced some of the same findings. There was evidence to support that both principals implemented several leadership practices that were aligned with the learning-centered leadership framework. Neither case study provided significant evidence that the principals were spending considerable time on the teaching function (classroom observations). This study identified components that could refine the Focus on Results program and other executive leadership development programs. These recommendations include: (a) establishing a purposeful criteria for assigning coaches to principals (b) incorporating clinical supervision of instruction into the FOR program, (c) selecting coaches skilled at clinical supervision and transformational leadership coaching, and (d) creating a system that monitors and accounts for the relationship between the coach and principal.

INFLUENCES ON PRINCIPALS’ LEADERSHIP PRACTICE
by
Gloria Duncan
________________________________________________________________________
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 2011
Copyright 2011 Gloria Duncan